Gaming equipment and services group Light & Wonder marked its 16th consecutive quarter of yearly consolidated revenue growth in 1Q25, as it saw 30 percent growth in North American unit shipments and maintained its top ship share spot in Australia.
According to its results released on May 7th, the group registered a 2 percent yearly increase in consolidated revenue, to $774 million, despite net income remaining flat yearly, at $82 million.
The group notes that ‘higher revenue and strong margins were offset by higher restructuring and other costs and income tax expense’.
Gaming revenue during the quarter was up by 4 percent year-on-year, hitting $495 million, ‘with contributions from all lines of business’.
An increase of 9 percent in revenue from its Table products bolstered its gaming segment, with 9 percent yearly growth in its North American installed base to 34,501 units.
The group’s iGaming revenue also saw a healthy uptick of 4 percent, to $77 million, however its SciPlay division saw revenue fall by 2 percent yearly, to $202 million.
Speaking of the results, Matt Wilson, President and CEO of L&W, noted that “Our R&D investment, vast array of product offerings and comprehensive content strategy continue to deliver success in game deployment and franchise expansions […] We remain confident in the various avenues of growth that we see for 2025 with continued execution on our robust product roadmap driving performance across the business”.
Looking ahead, the group has high expectations for its acquisition of Grover Gaming’s charitable gaming business, announced in mid-February for $850 million. The group indicates that ‘the transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2025, subject to required regulatory and other approvals and customary closing conditions’.
In regards to the ongoing tariff debacle, L&W notes that it has not escaped its clutches, noting that ‘we currently source a portion of the raw materials and components for our Gaming Business from China and across Asia’.
The group notes it has ‘evaluated various mitigation strategies’, including ‘supplier diversification, adjusting supply chain operations, supplier pricing negotiations and cost control initiatives, among other measures’.
‘While we expect recent tariffs and trade policies to create incremental cost pressures in the near term, our realized and ongoing operational efficiency initiatives coupled with other measures are expected to mitigate these effects,’ it indicates.
The group expects it can maintain its consolidated AEBITDA target of $1.4 billion (pre-Grover transaction) in 2025.
Furthermore, regarding the litigation over Dragon Train, L&W indicates that it has ‘now completed a review of all hold and spin games released from 2015 to the present to determine whether any of these games present issues with respect to Aristocrat math values similar to those identified with Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon’.
As a result, the group notes that ‘Our experts found no evidence that Aristocrat math values were used in any of these games’.
